Michigan set a new record in December on background checks of firearm purchasers, as gun dealers around the state report a sharp spike in sales since the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., and subsequent debate about gun control.

"It's been said that Obama is the best kind of salesman (for guns) and that's pretty much the truth," said Brian Laskowsky at Moose Creek Archery Gun/Tackle in Lansing.

Traditionally, his store is busiest during deer-hunting season, he said, but "that's nothing compared to this."

"This is a small shop," Laskowsky said. "If I sell three guns a day, that's a decent day. But I've been selling seven to 10 a day."

Gun stores in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Saginaw and Jackson contacted by MLive also reported significant increases in sales. Those anecdotal reports are supported by data from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NCIS, a division of the FBI that performs background checks on people purchasing guns.

A total of 76,882 checks were performed for Michigan gun sales in December, easily the state's highest month since NCIS was launched in 1998 and almost double from December 2014.

It is also 26 percent higher than January 2013, the previous Michigan record with 60,852 background checks, according to NCIS. Gun dealers say the 2013 spike was driven by the Sandy Hook mass shooting, which occurred Dec. 14, 2012.

Michigan is part of a national trend, although it has seen larger increases. Nationwide, NCIS did 48 percent more background checks in December 2015 than December 2014. In Michigan, there was an 82 percent over the same time period.

And the NCIS data doesn't reflect all gun sales, since background checks aren't required for private transactions. They also aren't required for those with a concealed pistol license since they already have had a background check and are monitored by the state.

Database: CCW permits by county

Don Thurston, a manager at Silver Bullet Firearms in suburban Grand Rapids, estimated that 30 percent to 40 percent of those buying guns have a concealed pistol license.

"We're seeing a lot more customers who come in and say they've never purchased a gun in their life," Thurston said. "But they want to be able to defend themselves, and are afraid they won't be able to get guns in the future."

Many of those customers are women, he said. "They live alone, and maybe they heard about a break-in down the street," Thurston said.

Other buyers are longtime gun owners adding to their collection or buying guns now as an investment, on the theory that if it becomes harder to get guns, their value will go up, Thurston said.

"Then there are others who are just upset with the whole political scene, and they're buying as much as can almost as a form of protest," Thurston said.

He added that gun sales have been strong ever since Barack Obama was elected president in 2008.

"When he became president, we had unprecedented sales," Thurston said. "Since then, any time there's talk in the media about gun control, sales go up -- every single time."

The current increase is particularly strong, he said.

"Our customer count is way up, and so are our sales," he said. "Maybe close to double."

'We sell freedom'

It was hard to find a parking place Saturday at On Target, a suburban Kalamazoo store where a sign in the parking lot reads: "We talk guns. We sell freedom."

"It's been crazy busy, just nonstop" in recent weeks, said Jeff Cramer, a co-owner of the store. "This store is full every day, and I mean every day."

Like Thurston in Grand Rapids, Cramer said customers are worried their ability to buy a certain guns, or any gun, in the future might be constrained.

"People who were sitting on the fence are jumping off, and saying, 'I'd better do it now,'" he said.

Bob Niswander, who lives in southern Cass County, and two of his friends were among the customers at On Target on Saturday.

"Just looking around, to see a couple things," Niswander said.

As a concealed pistol license instructor, he said he is pleased that more people are buying guns.

"I want to see more people owning guns, and learning how to use them safely and responsibly," he said.

Sam Dickey, an Elkhart, Ind., resident with Niswander at On Target, nodded in agreement.

"Every first responder needs to have a gun," he said. "And a first responder is any person who has a gun pointed at them. So everybody needs a gun."

Joe Burden, at Schubach's Sporting Goods in Jackson, said sales have skyrocketed ever since "Obama began running his mouth."

Four days after the San Bernardino shooting, Obama gave a national televised address on gun control, and Burden said customers flocked to the store the next morning.

"We had people coming in and they didn't want to talk. They just pointed to an AR-15 and said, 'I want that,' " Burden said.

Gun sales haven't slowed since, he said. "It's been about double, and it's still ramping up."

'Extra busy' at gun show

There were long lines Saturday morning to get into the Grand Rapids Gun and Knife Show, held in suburban Grand Rapids.

Doug Carl, who organized the event and does a gun show almost every weekend somewhere in Michigan, said attendance at his most recent shows have been "huge."

Hundreds of people milled around at the show, held at a vacant shopping mall. The majority were middle-aged and older white men, although some women and families also were taking in the show.

Alhough not a political event, the political leanings of the crowd were clear. Multiple vendors displayed the Confederate flag. Ted Cruz supporters were signing up volunteers. A vendor selling T-shirts said his big seller of the day was one that read "Hillary for PRISON 2016."

Other shirts in his collection: One that read "Celebrating Diversity," picturing an array of guns; a sketch of a black machine gun with the caption, "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Black"; one reading ".45 Because Shooting Twice Is Just Silly" and another that read "Yes, I'm the Armed American Christian Pork Eating Infidel They Warned You About," decorated with a cross, star and American flag.

Around the corner from the T-shirts was Wil

Holland of Grand Rapids, a private seller who could be affected by Obama's executive order, which seeks to crack down on sales at gun shows.

As a hobby, Holland said, he goes to gun shows to sell, buy or trade his gun collection.

Unlike a federally licensed firearms dealer, Holland doesn't have to conduct background checks on buyers. He falls under an exemption for someone "who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of this personal collection of firearms."

Obama wants the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco to be more aggressive about pursuing gun sellers using the exemption to skirt the law.

Holland said he is in the process of becoming a licensed dealer, but said Obama's executive order is a "horrible idea."

He said Michigan law already forbids sale of handguns at gun shows without a background check unless the buyer has a concealed pistol license, which shows a background check already has been conducted. And in states such as Indiana, where handgun sales are allowed at gun shows without a background check, he says he occasionally refuses to go through a sale if the person "looks shady."

"I had one guy who had 'Thug Life' tattooed above his eyebrow," Holland said. "I don't think he was an English teacher. You can tell."

On the other side of the gun show, Andy Madura was at a table recruiting new members for the National Rifle Association.

He was busier than usual, he said, thanks to Obama. "Everybody's concerned," he said.

While Obama has said repeatedly that he wants "common sense" gun control and insists he is not trying to take people's guns, people such as Madura aren't buying it.

"When he says he doesn't want to take your guns, but than brings up Australia and Great Britain as examples to follow -- that's exactly what they did," Madura said. "How can I think otherwise? I don't want that to happen here."

The politics

A CNN poll released Friday found two-thirds of Americans support the changes announced by Obama, which would expand background checks to cover more gun purchases made online or at gun shows and make the NCIS background checks more efficient.

No surprise, gun owners are among those in the vocal minority.

Burden, the gun salesman in Jackson, is among those who chafe as what he characterizes as the "anti-freedom, gun-hating, liberal agenda."

People have the right to defend themselves, he said, and "they're starting to realize it can happen anytime, anywhere, from being robbed to being raped to being burglarized. It's not necessarily just fear of a mass shooting, but (in San Bernardino) you had one by a known enemy from a foreign country."

Taking away guns from good people "is like castrating yourself because your neighbor has too many kids," he said. "It doesn't make any sense. Any time tyranny has reigned, it's been under the guise of public safety."

But not all gun owners oppose tighter restrictions.

"I'm all for background checks," said Dave Walker of Hartford, who was a customer Saturday at On Target in Kalamazoo. "You want to keep the crazies away from guns."

Still, Walker said, "they already have a lot of laws they don't enforce."

Chris Watrous of Cedar Springs owns four guns and was among those browsing the merchandise at the Grand Rapids gun show.

He said he wasn't too worked up about Obama's proposals, saying they would have less impact on gun owners or public safety than either side thinks.

"Personally," he said, "I don't think it's that big of a deal."

Julie Mack is a reporter for MLive.com. Email her at jmack1@mlive.com, call her at 269-350-0277 or follow her on Twitter @kzjuliemack.